Surgery, Scans, Tests, Biopsy... Ugh... Thankful this week is over!

This week has been busy, busy, busy for me... but the good news is, I made it through and can enjoy the next few days doctor-appointment-free! I don't go for another appointment until I meet on Monday with my oncologist, Dr. Voelzke, again.

Tuesday afternoon I went to Hutcheson and had the surgery for my port-o-cath. It went smoothly, as expected. My aunt Claudia and cousin Ryan took me there since Lee had something he had to be at for work early in the afternoon and then Lee showed up a bit later to be with me and then to drive me home. I got to the hospital at 1:30 and they did an EKG and started my IV and all that pretty early... most of the time there I spent just waiting in the day surgery room watching t.v. and waiting for them to take me to surgery.

Me sportin' my snazzy hair net before the surgery

My IV... eeew

Me & Claudia


After the surgery, I was in recovery for about an hour waking up... then they put me in a hospital room for an hour or so to monitor me and let me eat some dinner finally. I was soooo hungry as I hadn't eaten since midnight the night before. It was brutal not eating for so long! Lee and I filled my pain meds Rx on the way home and I went home and went to bed pretty early.

Wednesday morning we had to get up super early and had to be at Memorial Hospital at 6:45 for registration and my first test, a PET scan at 7:00. Before the PET scan, they started an IV and gave me the glucose stuff in the IV. I had to lie down for an hour before they could do the scan and let the stuff get absorbed into my body so the images would turn out correctly. After falling asleep there for a while then lying awake waiting for them to come and get me, it was time for the scan. It was only about 20 minutes, but it was kind of tough. The PET scan machine had a larger "tunnel" than the one I had gone in for the CT scan a week or so ago... so I started feeling a little claustrophobic. I just kept my eyes closed and kept praying that I wouldn't have a major panic attack and kept thinking happy thoughts of Logan. It seemed to help and before I knew it, then it was over.

After that, they wheeled me up to the respiratory testing area for a Pulmonary Function Test -- basically, I had to breathe in and out of a machine and they check your lung function. It's a pre-test for screening your lungs before beginning chemo.

Then I got wheeled to the Pathology department for the worst part of the day... and probably the most horrible thing I've endured so far since learning I had cancer: the bone marrow biopsy. After more blood work (yay, so much fun... as if I haven't been poked with enough needles and given enough blood for lab tests thus far) I had to wait for an hour in the waiting area. Once they finally called me back, they let Lee be in the room for the beginninig part of the procedure, then for the "nasty" part they made him leave. I had to lie on my stomach and the doctor put lidocaine (numbing stuff) on the area to be tested... and that hurt just a pinch, but nothing bad... then he put another shot of lidocaine deeper to the membrane just over the bone and that hurt kind of bad since it was much deeper in the tissue. The next parts really didn't take very long, but hurt like hell. I was fairly numb, but the pain from the pressure and pulling was intense. I thought I was going to cry, but I toughed it out and didn't cry, just groaned a little bit. I could feel the suction of the pulling of bone marrow out... it felt creepy and icky. Then he had to get a small sample of bone so he kind of twisted around for a bit getting some bone particles... yeah, it was nasty... thank God it was over pretty fast... it was sore as heck afterward and is still pretty sore. I spent the rest of the day in a wheelchair at the hospital since it hurt so badly to walk.

Lee and I hit up the cafeteria and had some lunch... I was so hungry at this point since, again, I hadn't eaten since midnight the night before. I chowed down some pizza and a sub sandwich.

My echocardiogram wasn't scheduled until 3:00 but at 1:00 we headed to that department anyhow since a nurse at another area had told us that we could probably get in there earlier. They let me in for the echocardiogram at about 1:30 and it wasn't bad at all. It was just a basic ultrasound of the heart. After that, we finally got to leave.

I pretty much went to sleep as soon as we got home. I was exhausted and took a 4 1/2 hour nap from 3:30 til 8:00. I got up and ate some dinner and watched a movie with Lee until 2 a.m. even though I have no idea how I stayed awake that long to watch it. I kept feeling like I was going to doze off since I'd taken a pain pill... man, I slept so great once my head hit the pillow.

I've been pretty sore today still where I had the port-o-cath put in... my chest is very sore still... and my backside where I had the bone marrow biopsy is sore too. I feel like an elderly person the way I'm walking around all crippled-like. At least now the tests and scans and things are behind me... my staging is all done. Now I just meet with Dr. Voelzke on Monday to see when I start chemo and see how long my treatment will be.

Thank you for all of the cards you've sent to me and for the sweet words and much-needed prayers. You all are the best friends and family a girl could ask for!